Improvement in apparatus for making brush hats



lINrrRn STATES ATRNT rrrcn.

J. o. RAAKR, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,505, dated April 26, 1864.

To all whoml t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, J. C. RAAKE, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Machine for Making Brush Hats; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make a part of this specification.

My invention constitutes a new mode of makingbrush hats57and it consistsin placing the hat-body on a revolving cone immersed in hot water, and pressing it while in motion against a series of brushes of the necessary shape arranged in a circle around a cone. An equivalent mode of accomplishing the same object would be to place the hatbody on a stationary cone in hotwvater and make the brushes revolve around it; but I prefer the first-mentioned method, which I shall now proceed to describe. Figurel is a side View of my apparatus; Fig. 2, a top view, Fig. 3, a vertical section; and Fig. 4., the same vertical section with the cone, &c., removed.

Similar letters of reference refer to corresponding parts in all the figures.

My apparatus consists of a water-tight box, a., the .water in which is to be kept hot in any convenicntway-as, for example, by the introduction into it of a jet of steam, or by the direct application of heat from a lire or lamp contiguously placed. In the interior of this box I arrange a series of inclined brushes, b b b, equidistant from the center, their upper ends fastened to the top of the box, and their lower ends joined to a small cup,4 c, the inside of which is also-provided with bristles, so that the contrivance constitutes a brushing apparatus which conforms to the shape ofthe cone d, onwhich the hat-body is placed.

The cone el may be made of any desired shape, and should be covered with woolen or some similar material, to render its surface slightly elastic. I place an india-rubber band, e, around the upper edge ofthe conc, to which I attach the edges of the hat-body. This is desirable, because the hat-body may shrink during the process to which it is subjected, in which case the rubber band yields, and yet continues to hold the body firmly in position on the cone.

The cone d may be made to rotate in any convenient way, but should be so contrived as to admit of its being easily removed from the brush box or vat, so that the hat-body ,may be taken off 'or put on, as the case may lto lift the cone from the vat; or, if preferred,

the cone may be permanently attached to the shaft, and the brush box or vat may be lowered down sufliciently to enable the operator to take off or put on the hat-body. Various ways of accomplishing this will at once sng gest themselves to the expertmechanic by the employment of well-known and common mechanical devices. My drawings illustrate the first mode-thatis, the cone is coupled to the shaftf, Fig. 3, which may be swung one side by removing one vof the screws g g, Fig. 2.

The operation of my machine is as follows The hat body is stretched upon the coneand fastened to the rubber band. The cone is then introduced tothe brush-vat containing hot water, and coupled to the rotating shaft, by which means it is caused to revolve, and thus bring all parts of thehatbody against the brushes. After rotating a short time in one direction, the motion is reversed and continued a similar length of time, and so on till the nap is brushed out to the desired length, when the shaft is uncoupled, the cone removed, and the hat-body taken offand another one put on.

'Ihe advantages of my invention are, much greater rapidity and cheapness in the manu facture of brush hats, as will be readily appreciated when it is considered that the presentl mode of preparing them is by dipping the hat-body into hot water and then laying it on a table and brushing it by hand. As the luster can only be produced by keeping it hot with water, it is necessary to dipit very frequently, a-nd the operation is tedious and expensive. By my process, on the contrary, the brushing is effected by mechanical means and without interruption, as the hat-body need not be withdrawn from thev hot water till the operation is completed.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A brushing mechanism constructed substantially as described, and operating in hot water, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

J. C. RAAKE.

Witnesses:

GHAs. MORRILL, WM. G. BLACKBURN. 

